


What's in a Name

by namaste



Category: Z Nation (TV)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-12-25
Updated: 2015-12-25
Packaged: 2018-05-09 06:45:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,126
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5529851
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/namaste/pseuds/namaste
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An alternate version of how 10K got his name (and won't die a virgin).</p>
            </blockquote>





	What's in a Name

**Author's Note:**

> This is how I imagined 10K's POV in Z Nation to unfold if he had a companion. (:
> 
> In case you want to know what I imagined Lia to look like, see [here.](http://i66.tinypic.com/1stt.jpg)

“I’ll come back for you, ok? I love you.”

Those were the last words he said to her before everything went to hell. 

Tommy had kissed her on the forehead before he left to check on his dad. There had been an outbreak---a virus that was spreading with no viable cure in sight. People were reanimating after death and were inhuman afterward. Their eyes were glazed over; the only sound from their mouths a low groan. It was straight out of a horror film. All major news networks had cut off from “technical difficulties” after showing the pandemonium happening globally. 

Lia turned off the TV that night and curled up on the couch beside Tommy, her arms wrapping around his torso. “How awful. What are we going to do?”

He was silent for a moment. “I have to go, Lia. I have to check if Pa is okay.” 

“You can’t---don’t leave me.” She buried her face in his shirt, her words muffled by the material.

“Maybe you could go with me,” he murmured into her hair, pondering the thought before shaking his head slightly. “No, it’ll be too dangerous. You’re safer here.”

‘Here’ happened to be Lia’s vacation home, which was situated in a remote location away from the concrete jungle, New York City. She’d inherited it, along with many other assets, when her parents had been murdered days after her eighteenth birthday. Since then it had just been her and Tommy. 

It was now summer break; they’d packed up a bulk of their belongings from their college dormitories and went to the spacious vacation home. Tommy had promised her that he’d teach her how to fish and hunt. So far, she hadn’t been able to catch a single fish. 

“How am I safer here?” Lia knew that she was being selfish and bratty, but she couldn’t stop herself from continuing to protest. “Your dad lives in the _mountains._ He taught you everything you know. I can barely shoot the gun you got me.” 

“You know that he lives alone, Lia,” Tommy said, pulling back to look her in the eyes. “The sooner I leave, the sooner I can come back to you.” 

He stood up, walked over to the supply closet, and unlocked the gun safe. She knew that he was making preparations so she’d be able to defend herself while he was gone. She closed her eyes, willing herself not to cry and instead be strong. Fear, like most feelings, was temporary. She repeated this mantra in her mind as Tommy bent down to kiss her on the forehead, vowing to come back. 

“I love you.”

“I love you, too,” she whispered at his retreating form.

Hours later, Lia was drifting off to sleep when she heard a noise. She sat up from her spot on the couch, waiting for the sound of Tommy’s key unlocking the door. 

Instead, she heard footsteps and a growl. 

She grabbed her backpack, which was already packed with supplies, and tiptoed to the front door. Her brown eyes looked at the peephole. There was a middle-aged man standing there. His eyes were a cloudy grey, blood smeared on his clothes and around his mouth and beard. A shiver ran down her spine as he--- _it?_ \---growled again and began to claw at the door. 

_I need to get out of here before more show up._

Lia took one last look around the house before she left through the back door. It was the last time she’d be in that house. She hoped that she’d meet up with Tommy somehow and that he was safe. 

\- - -

His hands were shaking. Despite the fact that he’d scrubbed his hands clean of blood and grime, even under his fingernails, he still wasn’t satisfied. He pulled the truck over to the side of the road, shut off the engine, and lowered his face to the steering wheel. Tommy took deep breaths, focusing on each inhale and exhale as he felt himself begin to have a panic attack. 

He’d actually done it. He’d killed his dad. 

Granted, Pa said to give him mercy before he turned into a Z. But it still wasn’t an easy task by any means. He’d hesitated for too long and his dad had turned right before his eyes. He gathered up the courage to pull the trigger and collapsed, tears running down his face while he got his bag and left. He had to get back to Lia.

When he returned to the house, he saw that there was a horde of them already. He bit his lip before turning around back to the highway. Lia would’ve left before the horde surrounded the house; he knew that with certainty. 

“C’mon, babe, where’d ya go. . .” he muttered under his breath, scanning the horizon for any sign of her.

Miles later, he breathed a sigh of relief when he saw her walking alongside the shoulder. He unlocked the passenger side door, eyeing her as she got in. The smile she directed at him lit up her whole face and he couldn’t help but smile back. 

“Hey, you,” she whispered, leaning in to kiss him quickly. “What took you so long?”

He frowned, remembering why he wasn’t in a good mood. “I. . .I was too late. I had to give him mercy.”

Lia’s hand cradled the side of his face tenderly. “I’m sorry you had to do that. I wish I could’ve helped somehow.”

Tommy shook his head, turning to kiss the palm of her hand before he continued to drive. “I know. I’ll be okay. I have to be.”

“Do you want to talk about it?” 

He didn’t say anything, one of his hands clasping hers for comfort. She squeezed his hand and shot him a look of understanding. She wouldn’t force him to talk about it until he was ready. 

Sometime later, him and Lia ended up being “recruited” by a group of survivors headed to California. Once they saw his sharpshooter skills, they knew he’d be an asset to the team. They were transporting the sole survivor of the virus---a man named Murphy, who was the only human to receive the vaccine.

One of the survivors, Doc, welcomed them into the group and as the introductions began, Tommy squeezed Lia’s hand as he made the decision to reinvent himself, so to speak. He no longer felt as if he was Tommy; he was someone else entirely.

“Well, kid, what’s your name?” Doc asked, smiling at them both. 

He shrugged, looking around at the group one by one. “I’m 10K and this is my girlfriend, Lia.”

He’d explain it all to her later.

_For now, let’s focus on getting to California without getting bitten by any Z’s._


End file.
